Funny money: Central Bank wants to make its own cartoons

Still don’t know what a tracker mortgage is? Help may soon be at hand for those struggling to understand the tricky world of personal finance and banking regulations.

The Central Bank is looking at rolling out a number of cartoons that would more easily express what it does. The financial regulator is actively seeking animators to help it develop short-form videos that help explain its remit to the general public.

According to a notice published on the eTenders website, the regulator wants to develop “memorable and distinctive video content” for use on its website and though social media channels.

“The animation must be of a style that is interesting, appealing and accessible for every age group from approximately age 13 upwards who may have an interest in the activities of the Central Bank,” it said.

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Not childish

The regulator goes on to add the animations should not be “specifically childish” in content or format as it is looking to ensure the cartoons reach as wide an audience as possible.

The Central Bank envisages between 12 and 15 videos being created, with the first three to be released late this year or in early 2019.

The Irish animation industry is worth about €100 million and Ireland is home to a number of highly regarded animation studios, including Cartoon Saloon, Jam Media and the Oscar-nominated Brown Bag Films. However, all may struggle to come up with a way to dramatise what exactly the regulator does.

“The Central Bank is aware that much of the work of the Central Bank is unseen by the public and involves topics such as pan-European banking supervision. Accordingly, the Central Bank is seeking animated videos that will bring these concepts to life,” it says.

Avatars

It helpfully makes a number of possible suggestions including animated Central Bank characters or avatars to explain the concept of pan-European banking supervision by flying over a map of Europe and landing outside the ECB headquarters in Frankfurt.

Among the suggested topics for videos are what the Central Bank does, what its priorities will be for its strategy ending in 2021 and how it works as part of the Eurosystem.

Stay tuned for more.